Ph and Kh...spec??

hey guy's,been struggeling to get my ph & kh reading to preferd reading of 8.4 and 8 dkh,been testing for a week now and keep geting a reading of 8.2 and 7 dkh...!!been useing tropic marine tripple buffer with my top up water but cant get it up..... !!!!!!!
Is that reading still in spec or iam i using the tripple buffer wrong??????

yes its good, but Im pretty sure the test kit is reading wrong. Try someone else's kit before you add anything, your ALk could be sitting on 11

Click to expand...

Agreed, but 7 dkh is great, i wish mine would come down to that. Test Ca, Mg and Alk. I have come to understand that Sg must also be considered: 1.025 and temp at 26 degrees. Alk is the key, must be stable. Mg should be 3 x Ca, as a guide. Hey I am stugling to get my Alk down, but the above is how I understand it. Your Ph is fine.

Tank has been running for 3 weeks now......................ha ha ha,just kidding,no,its in its 9week now.....added the hammer on the weekend,and its look amazing...was thow skepptic about them or any corals....

Not bad at all. The triple buffer is it suppose to increase dKH? If so I would suggest you up you normal dosage, not by much and see if it does not start to increase dkh over a week or so.

Testing alk, cal and mg often during this process.

By the way if possible dose triple buffer in the morning and ca in the evening. Not at the same time. Mg to be dosed before the other 2, do it first then an hour or so after add triple buffer if dosing dkh in the morning, or if you dosing mg in the evening then 1 hour later add ca suppliment.

In fact, your pH SHOULD change every day, ranging from around 8.0 - 8.2 in the morning just before "lights on" to around 8.2 - 8.4 just after your main lights switch off in the evening... so, when did you do your testing?

Also, did you do the water change before or after the tests that you are quoting were done - if before, then what was the SG of the water at the time of testing?

hennie,was before water change,dit the water change thinking it will bring my parremeters up.....SG was at 1.024 before water change,i leave my sump light on 24 hours due to Ph drop,though Ph drops at night when lights go out.....????????
My real consern is,is PH 8.0 - 8.2 and KH 7 still acceptible....???
thanks for the advise

Do you leave your display tank's lights on 24/7 as well? Keep in mind that the pH change is caused by algae (and also those inside your corals and anemone) using up CO2 whilst photosynthesising, but producing CO2 during the dark. If you have more photosynthetic life forms (again, including cnidarians) in your display tank than in your sump, the pH will still be affected. (By the way, it's NOT a good idea to keep the sump lights on 24/7...)

My real consern is,is PH 8.0 - 8.2 and KH 7 still acceptible....???

Click to expand...

Totally

As I'm typing this, my tank's pH is 8.25, and my alkalinity is somewhere between 5 and 6 (my calcium reactor has been off for a while, and with my rather large coral load demanding calcium and alkalinity, I battle to keep it above 6 with dripping kalk and adding additives...). As stated previously, don't stress - your current pH and Alk. levels are really nothing to worry about. (But I would be concerned about your haste to add a tang and a lion fish (large bio-load) and an anemone to such an immature system...)